prosperous age

"Increase the caliber and increase the charge."

This thought instantly appeared in his mind, because in Wei Guangde's impression, in addition to the large number of light matchlock guns equipped in the West during this period, there was also a kind of musket that required a support, generally called a heavy musket.

This musket uses a larger caliber projectile and a larger charge to produce greater destructive power.

The reason why two types of muskets were equipped in the army at the same time was actually related to the era when cold and hot weapons intersected.

Not only in the Ming Dynasty, Western soldiers at this time did not give up heavy armor to increase their own protection, so ordinary muskets were actually difficult to kill or injure enemies with heavy armor.

Therefore, this heavy musket with increased power was born, which can also be understood as the ancestor of the anti-material sniper rifle in later generations.

In later generations, when people talked about the Ming Dynasty's fire guns, they were generally called bird guns and regarded as a weapon.

But in fact, the Ming Dynasty bird gun that people in later generations talked about was more referring to the Rumi gun improved and developed by Zhao Shizhen, a very advanced European firearm at the time.

The bird guns that the Ming army is now mass-producing and equipped with are actually developed based on the light individual muskets carried by the Portuguese.

Although some documents mention that the development of the Ming Dynasty's bird gun was more influenced by the Japanese iron cannon, in fact the Ming Dynasty had contact with the Portuguese earlier, and was able to obtain Portuguese weapons through naval battles.

Although Japan already had arquebuses during the same period, they were still in the early stages of development, with extremely low production quality and output, making them impossible for a poor samurai to obtain.

Therefore, according to logical inference, the Ming Dynasty's bird gun should be based on the Portuguese musket, and may have been improved in the later period with ideas from the iron cannons captured from Japanese pirates.

But no matter what, the bird guns that the Ming Dynasty was equipped with in large quantities at that time were actually small muskets with small caliber and small amount of powder.

Light guns were also used in early Europe. In order to face the threat of muskets, the knights strengthened their armor. Musketeers also needed to use field artillery that posed a greater threat of sniping. The economies of European countries were not sufficient to support the artillery of mercenaries for a long time, so they simply replaced them with larger muskets. As a result, muskets became heavier and more powerful.

The Western muskets first obtained by the Ming Dynasty should be a small-caliber bird gun with a long barrel and little gunpowder, which means that the recoil is small and the gun is accurate. Some people have also verified that this gun may also be used by Western cavalry.

Southern soldiers used Western guns more often because they were suitable for dealing with unarmored targets in the south. They were light and accurate, used lighter and less ammunition, could be fired more times, and were suitable for the complex mountainous terrain in the south.

The bird guns in the north of the Ming Dynasty had longer barrels and more gunpowder, the purpose of which was naturally to increase the effective range to deal with the Mongolian cavalry in the north.

This is the biggest difference between the northern and southern bird guns of the Ming Dynasty at that time, but because the caliber of the bullets is similar, the power is similar.

At this time, the Ming Dynasty's bird guns were aimed at the Mongolian cavalry on the grasslands who lacked iron armor and mainly wore leather armor. The power of the bird guns was sufficient.

For this reason, the Ming Dynasty has not yet realized the idea of ​​increasing the caliber of the bird gun and the weight of the projectile to increase the lethality.

In fact, although the level of science and technology in ancient China was very high, much of it was pragmatic, relying on the skills of farmers and craftsmen to solve problems.

They know the facts but not the reasons, and they do not dig deep to find out the reasons like the West does.

This situation continued until the end of the Ming Dynasty, when the Ming Dynasty's military industry office began looking for ways to increase the armor-piercing power of the Liaodong Jurchens' three-layer armor.

Therefore, under the promotion of Zhao Shizhen, Bi Maokang, Xu Guangqi and others, European heavy muskets gradually entered the Ming Dynasty and became the main firearms of the Ming Dynasty's northern border troops at that time.

The Rumi gun is actually a type of musket that is powerful enough and between light and heavy muskets.

Unfortunately, it is only the third year of Wanli, and the envoys from the Turkish Kingdom of Rumi have not yet arrived in the Ming Dynasty, so naturally there are no finished Rumi guns for reference.

There is no reference, but it doesn’t matter. Wei Guangde believes that as long as he puts forward ideas, the craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty should be able to find a way to develop Ming Dynasty’s own heavy muskets.

So Wei Guangde washed his feet in two quick strokes, asked someone to prepare writing brush, ink, paper and inkstone, and then started writing.

Write down all the ideas of increasing the barrel caliber appropriately, loading larger bullets, and increasing the amount of powder to improve lethality while maintaining the length of the bird gun barrel.

Because the technical level of iron materials at that time was not very good, Wei Guangde also mentioned that the thickness of the tube wall could be appropriately increased to prevent explosion.

In fact, even if Wei Guangde didn't write it, the craftsmen would know it.

However, only after Wei Guangde wrote it down could he come up with the next design idea, which was to add a gun clip to the front end of the bird gun.

The bird gun made according to this idea will definitely have enough armor-piercing power, but the weight of the gun will increase, making it more difficult for a soldier to hold it, and the increased recoil will also affect shooting accuracy.

Installing a bracket on the barrel can perfectly solve the stability of this new type of musket and ensure shooting accuracy.

After writing the note, Wei Guangde put down his pen and waited for the ink to dry. Only then did he realize that he had gotten used to the bird gun and thought it was great, but he had not thought about the armor-piercing power.

At that time, we were focused on developing long-barreled cannons, also known as red cannons, but forgot about the development of the most popular firearm, the bird gun. This was really wrong.

The predecessor once claimed to be a half-baked military fan, and did not even think of guiding the Ministry of Industry to develop subsequent rifles.

Yes, influenced by this incident, Wei Guangde began to consider whether he should use his golden finger to point out the development direction of Ming Dynasty weapons.

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde sat quietly behind the desk for a while. After thinking carefully, he took out a piece of paper, spread it out, picked up the pen and started writing.

This note was written to the Ministry of Industry and only mentioned two points. One was the development of more powerful gunpowder, and the other was the idea of ​​fixed-load bullets, which required that a fixed amount of gunpowder be wrapped in oil paper and a bullet be glued on the top.

Regarding gunpowder, Wei Guangde didn't know much about its development in later generations, but he had the impression that gunpowder actually had greater potential for development.

The same firearm, using different gunpowder, has different range and power.

Even some gunpowders with better combustion effects have to reduce the charge to ensure the safety of firing while the weapon remains unchanged.

As for the fixed bullets, Wei Guangde had to proceed step by step according to the development process of future firearms.

Wei Guangde certainly knew the advantages of metal fixed ammunition, but who could blame him for the fact that the technology of that era could not reach that industrial level.

Even if the skilled craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty were able to grind out bullets by hand, it could not be industrialized and had no practical value at all.

That is why in later generations, many people said that bullets are actually the soul of a gun, and a gun without bullets is no better than a rolling pin.

The earliest handheld gunpowder kinetic weapons can be traced back to the Song Dynasty. According to "Song History, Military Records XI", Shouchun Prefecture "made a fire gun, using a huge bamboo as the tube, with a bullet nest inside. When it was burned and fired, the bullet nest would emit a sound like a cannon after the flame went out, which could be heard from more than 150 steps away."

At that time, the gun barrel was made of bamboo, and the bullet nest was gunpowder. Although the military records did not specify what the bullet was, judging from the projectiles used by the modern Ming army, it was nothing more than small stones. It is estimated that someone put lead bullets in it later.

Everything was stuffed into it, and it was used similarly to the later shotguns. Nowadays, bullets and gunpowder are stored separately, and the Ming and Western bird gunners carry two bags with them, one for gunpowder and one for bullets.

No one knows when fixed bullets appeared, but Wei Guangde knows the development law of firearms. With the new ignition method, firearms will also be improved and become more and more advanced.

In fact, Wei Guangde originally thought of using the small-sized falconet cannon as a blueprint for developing the Ming Dynasty's rifle. Well, he went all the way and directly developed the caseless bullet.

Later in the new century, Western countries were still developing several types of caseless rifles, and even finished products appeared, but they had never been favored by the troops and put into service.

However, although the concept of the Portuguese rifle was in line with the development ideas of later rifles, the airtightness of the current era made it impossible for him to guarantee the lethality.

The metal material could not meet the standards for use, and it was impossible to make the falconet cannon the same size as the musket.

Even a small-sized falconet gun required two soldiers to operate it together in order to fire it quickly.

Wei Guangde wrote down his ideas, and as for the follow-up, that was the Ministry of Industry's business, and he couldn't do it himself.

Moreover, even if he did it himself, with his level of skill, he could not do better than those master craftsmen from the Ministry of Works, and he would only cause more trouble.

He called Zhang Ji, handed him two slips of paper and said, "Go down and copy one of these two slips, and deliver them to the two officials in the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of War tomorrow morning."

"Yes, sir."

After all, Zhang Ji had studied with Wei Guangde. Although he couldn't write good articles, he had no problem copying and writing.

As for the thorny problems Yunnan is currently facing, Wei Guangde is also helpless.

The only way was to make full use of the strengths of the Ming army's firearms, concentrate the use of Portuguese cannons to bombard the enemy's front line, and after defeating the front line, use bird guns to kill the light infantry behind them.

The Ming Dynasty had always had a special liking for large-caliber artillery. Since the Zhengde Dynasty came into contact with the Portuguese cannon and realized its power, from the Jiajing Dynasty to the Longqing Dynasty and to the present Wanli Dynasty, the dynasty has always been fond of the Portuguese cannon, and a large number of firearms are cast every year to equip the entire army.

Except in the inland garrisons, it is actually very easy to gather a hundred large and small Portuguese cannons in any border town.

This time, when Li Chengliang was there, Wei Guangde specifically ordered the northern and southern military ministries to transfer artillery to support Yunnan, so Wei Guangde was not worried that Li Chengliang would be helpless against the rattan shield.

As for Tan Lun's mention in the letter that Li Chengliang cried poor to the court and asked for this and that, it was just a strategy to emphasize his own difficulties.

  But is this useful?

Wei Guangde actually didn't have a very good impression of Li Chengliang, perhaps because of Liaodong.

Therefore, this trip to Yunnan really concerns the rise and fall of the Li family. As long as it fails, Li Chengliang will inevitably be demoted and will never have the opportunity to lead troops to fight again.

Among the Li family, perhaps the only one he would give a chance to is Li Rusong. After all, he participated in two of the three major expeditions.

A man's reputation is like the shadow of a tree, so Wei Guangde is still willing to give him a chance.

The next day, Wei Guangde went to the cabinet to work and completely put the affairs of the Ministry of War behind him.

During this period, the Ministry of Revenue was summoned to the cabinet very frequently. There was no other way. Starting from April, floods began to occur frequently in various parts of Jiangnan.

In April, there were major floods in Xuzhou and Huaizhou. In May, there were floods in Huai'an and Yangzhou. On the first day of June, the four prefectures of Hangzhou, Jiaxing, Ningbo and Shaoxing in Zhejiang were flooded to the sea, and the water surged several feet high. Countless people and animals were drowned, and houses collapsed. Suzhou, Songjiang, Changzhou, Zhenjiang and other prefectures also suffered major and minor floods.

For this reason, provincial governors and provincial governors from all over the country submitted petitions requesting rent reduction or exemption and relief for the victims.

The governor and the provincial governor of the Ministry of Revenue selected capable officials to adjust the public rent and distinguish the heavy and light rents so that they could deal with the situation as appropriate. It was also said that the total amount of money and grain collected and issued for rent reduction and relief in Huai, Yang and other places had reached 500,000 to 600,000 taels of silver.

The national economic system has its own main items, not just one side. Although we should be aware of the urgency of the situation, it is difficult to continue with the endless pursuit.

Moreover, there is no special plan to relieve famine. To find a good plan, it depends on the officials to first select honest and capable officials who will not disturb the people to supervise the local affairs, and secondly to find ways to solve the difficulties on the spot according to the actual situation.

If we rely solely on state aid, not only will we fail to resolve the difficulties in a timely manner, but given the size of our country, our financial resources will also be difficult to meet.

For this reason, the Ministry of Revenue submitted a memorial to the Cabinet, requesting the removal of corrupt and cruel officials as well as those who were old, sick, and unable to perform their duties.

Wei Guangde disagreed with this and suggested that the Censorate should wait until the flood subsided before sending out an imperial censor to investigate and dismiss the person.

It is unwise to appoint or dismiss officials at this critical juncture of disaster relief.

You know, if the imperial court really did this, the officials below would probably do anything to keep their official hats.

  What will happen if the disaster is concealed without caring about the lives of ordinary people?

However, Wei Guangde's opposition did not have any effect this time.

After all, the officials who participated in the discussion this time were mainly from Zhang Juzheng's faction. Both Wang Guoguang from the Ministry of Revenue and Zhang Han from the Ministry of Personnel believed that incompetent officials should be dismissed as soon as possible to prevent them from harming the people at this time.

Wei Guangde couldn't win the fight, so he gave up and let the Zhang faction do what they wanted.

But deep down, I still feel a little unhappy.

In fact, there is no right or wrong in the two strategies; they just look at the problem from different perspectives.

After all, the regulations set by the court are actually a double-edged sword, with both advantages and disadvantages. It depends on how the people below deal with them, whether to play to their strengths and avoid their weaknesses and maximize their advantages or disadvantages.

Anyway, Wei Guangde had no confidence in the integrity of Ming officials and was not optimistic about their efficiency, so he was worried that this would lead to the deaths of many innocent people in Xida.

At this time, news finally came from the direction of Jiugang. After the Ming Dynasty's South China Sea navy moved south, it issued official documents to the surrounding foreign countries to clarify the status of Jiugang Xuanwei Office. No one from neighboring countries including Aceh and Bachang raised any objections, and no one dared to raise any questions.

Are you kidding? Nearly 300 warships of the Ming Dynasty are parked in the old port. If anyone disobeys, it will be a reason to teach the Ming Dynasty a lesson.

Even the Portuguese in Malacca expressed their understanding and acceptance after learning that the Ming Dynasty wanted to restore the so-called Old Port Xuanwei Office, and were willing to continue trading with Old Port.

However, these were all expected results. There was also news about the remnants of the Feilong Kingdom, which Wei Guangde was most concerned about. Yu Dayou gathered nearly 4,000 troops and could be used in Myanmar.

Combined with the available military forces of the South China Sea Navy, more than 6,000 troops can be mobilized to attack Burma from the south without borrowing troops from the Nanyang vassal states.

The situation has become increasingly favorable to the Ming Dynasty. (End of this chapter)